Hezbollah and the Wissam Hassan’s assassination

More than 20 Lebanese figures have been assassinated, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, not to mention senior politicians, media figures and military leaders. All of those assassinated have been affiliated to a single political movement, namely the March 14 movement. Following the assassination of Hariri, Hezbollah and the Syrian regime sought to promote the story that a youth, Abu Adas – a member of a terrorist Islamist organization – was responsible for Hariri’s death as part of a suicide attack. They claimed that Abu Adas had recorded a video confession, which he left in a tree, which was later discovered by the media.

Only the stupid and ignorant would believe such a story! We knew, from the first moment, that the Syrian regime was behind the assassination of Hariri, and that its closest ally, Hezbollah, had carried out this operation. Of the estimated 20 people who have been killed in the past period, the conspirator and party responsible for the actual assassination have been one and the same.

The latest assassination victim was Wissam Hassan, who was practically the only security official in Lebanon who was outside the authority of Hezbollah. This man, along with his team, succeeded in compiling a lot of the evidence that implicates the Syrian regime and Hezbollah. Only the stupid and ignorant are not aware that the conspirators and perpetrators, in this case, are the al-Assad regime and Hezbollah. However the problem is that the pro-Syrian and Hezbollah media believes that such lies work, and attempted to propagate this again. Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon, who cannot acknowledge that his country was behind the crime, had no other option but to accuse takfirist jihadists of being behind the assassination of Wissam Hassan! Why would they do this? The Syrian ambassador claimed that this was because they want to spread chaos! If spreading chaos is the true objective, then why are all of those who have been killed affiliated to the same political party?

As for the latest, an Al-Akhbar newspaper journalist with ties to Syria and Hezbollah, Hassan Aliq, published a report claiming that Jordanian intelligence warned the Dahieh [southern suburbs of Beirut] that Israel is angry with Hezbollah and may seek to target the area. Once again, we must not be stupid enough to believe this story, despite the writer’s attempt to propagate this. Why would Israel assassinate a courageous security investigator who dared to reveal Hezbollah and Syria’s crimes? In the same manner a liar always betrays their deceit by adding too many details to their story, the writer put forward a second story regarding the UAE intelligence apparatus. He wrote “here is the surprise. An Emirate official informed Hassan that information in their possession confirms that Al Qaeda was behind the assassination [of Hariri], specifically a group operating from the Ain al-Hilweh camp.” If the writer was in possession of such valuable information, why did he not reveal this in his first article following the assassination of Wissam Hassan? Therefore in reality, of course there is no Jordanian or Emirati story, rather this is complete fiction and something that nobody in the region, even those within the Hezbollah camp, can believe!

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is the general manager of Al-Arabiya television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly magazine Al-Majalla. He is also a senior columnist in the daily newspapers Al-Madina and Al-Bilad. He has a US post-graduate degree in mass communications, and has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He is currently based in Dubai.